stirrup
Definitions
General English
Construction
- A reinforcement used to resist shear and diagonal tension stresses in a concrete structural member.
- A steel bar bent into a "U" or box shape and installed perpendicular to, or at an angle to the longitudinal reinforcement, and properly anchored.
- Lateral reinforcement formed of individual units, open or closed, or of continuously wound reinforcement. The term stirrups is usually applied to lateral reinforcement in flexural members and the term ties to lateral reinforcement in vertical compression members. See also tie.
Origin & History of “stirrup”
A
stirrup is etymologically a ‘climbing rope’. The
word goes
back to a prehistoric Germanic
compound formed
from the
base *
stig- ‘climb’ (
source also of
English stair and
stile) and *
raipaz (
ancestor of English
rope). The earliest stirrups were looped pieces of
rope.
